Jesus and the Temptation in The Desert - New Evangelizers

We have now started the Holy Season of Lent.

This past Sunday, we heard from the Gospel of Luke about Jesus being tempted by Satan three times in the desert. As will all of the Gospel stories, there is so much to unpack.

Let us examine the text of the Gospel:

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered him,
“It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”
Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him,
“I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It is written
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve.”
Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.

(Luke 4:1-13)

We first notice that the Holy Spirit sends Jesus to the desert for 40 days. This is similar to the time of preparation that Moses and Elijah went through. The number 40 is symbolic of a complete amount of time. Jesus is about to begin the great spiritual fight and He needs this time of prepare.

The first temptation in Luke’s Gospel is to turn stones into bread. Jesus responds by quoting Scripture: “Man does not live by bread alone.” (Deuteronomy 8:3). One of the things Jesus is showing us is that Scripture has power to help us in times of temptation. One of the reasons that temptation takes over us is that we let it consume our thoughts and we push God out of our minds. But returning to the Scriptures can occupy the mind and imagination so that it can cool the fires of illicit desires. To be sure this is not a magic formula, but it opens the door for God to speak to us when we feel like we are being pulled away.

This passage also tells us that spiritual needs outweigh physical ones. This is not to say that our physical needs do not matter. But health of soul outweighs the body. This is why some are called to be martyrs, where their earthly life was laid down for the witness of their faith.

The second temptation in Luke’s Gospel has Satan offer to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The truly scary part of this statement is that if Satan is telling the truth (which may not be the case because he is the “father of lies”), then this means that they are his to give because the kingdoms of the world belong to him. On this view, political power seems to be tainted by this demonic power. I ask my students this question: do people who go into politics become more virtuous or less virtuous? Overwhelmingly they say that they become less virtuous. And while there are some exceptions, there is something corruptive about worldly power that feels a bit demonic. If we worship Satan, and by this we can say that we worship any false god before the true God, then we might find an advantage of power.

Jesus’ response is that we should worship God alone. When dealing with the world, we have to remember that God is over all. As I wrote in a recent article, the laws of God supersede the laws of man. In rejecting the power of the world, we could become victims to that power. But we must remember the words of Christ: “I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)

The final temptation is where Satan brings Jesus to the top of the Temple and tells Him to jump and put God’s love to the test. In this case, Satan quotes the Bible at Jesus. This is an important reminder that evil people can use the Scriptures in a manipulative way. You can see how people would selectively quote the book of Genesis to justify slavery in America. We must always look at the Bible in its entire context. This is what Christ does when He quotes Scripture back to Satan and says “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” (Deuteronomy 6:16). God does not need to prove Himself to us. Instead, we are the ones who must be proved in His eyes. CS Lewis made this point when he said:

“The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.”

But we must remember that this is not how it should be. I do not stand before God as His judge. I am to be judged by Him.

Something else to keep in mind about these temptations is the connection they have with the Old Testament.

After God freed the Hebrews from slavery, He brought them into the desert where He tested them.

When they ran low on food, they wanted to return to Egypt because bread was more important that God. So God made Mana fall from the sky.

When Moses was delayed, the worship the golden calf and embraced the world over the one true God. So God destroyed their idol.

When Moses was instructed to bring water from the rock, he tested God by striking the rock twice. So God barred him from entering the Promised Land.

Three times they were tempted and they failed.

Three times Jesus is tempted and He prevails.

Jesus shows us how to overcome our temptations. If we unite ourselves to Him, then, as the Gospel states, the devil will depart from us.

Copyright 2025, WL Grayson

W.L. Grayson

I am a devoutly Catholic theology teacher who loves a popular culture that often, quite frankly, hates me. I grew up absorbing every movie, TV show, comic book, science fiction novel, etc. I could find. As of today I’ve watched over 2100 movies and tv shows. They take up a huge part of my life. I don’t know that this is a good thing, but it has given me a common vocabulary to draw from in order to illustrate whatever theological point I make in class. I’ve used American Pie the song to explain the Book of Revelation (I’ll post on this some time later) and American Pie the movie to help explain Eucharist (don’t ask). The point is that the popular culture is popular for a reason. It is woven into the fabric of our lives and imaginations, for good or ill. In this blog I will attempt to bring together the things of heaven with the things of earth. Of course this goal may be too lofty for someone like me.